Edinburgh & Loch Lomond Loving!

 

 So after Ella's blessing weekend Mara stayed an extra day and my mom stayed for 2 days which was super fun, because it would have been sad going from all the visitors to suddenly having none again!! So on the Monday morning we headed to Edinburgh because it's my fave place! and because Mara had never been before!!

I had been wanting to check out this place called Mimi's Bakehouse in Leith for aaaages! I had heard about their amazing baked goods, but I didn't know they did tasty lunch food too!

 Everything on their menu looked so good but to fill that little Vancouver shaped void in my heart, I had to order the french toast with bacon and maple syrup! It was amazing, and huge!

 All the decor inside is fun, even Ella was mesmerised by it all!

 I loved all the bunting...

 and the rolling pins and whisks hanging from the wall!

 Their treat cabinet on the day we were there was sadly not overflowing with the decadent layer cakes I have seen on their facebook page...

but when I heard that these treats were coconut flavoured I was sold! They were amazing, a layer of chocolate and biscuit on the bottom, then a layer of creamy coconut filling on top finished of with milk chocolate and bounty bits - yum!

We could have gone home right then and we would have all been happy!

 but we headed into town and did all the touristy things!

 A stop at the castle is a must!

 Although Ella must have inherited my opinions on castles and she found the whole thing pretty boring so just slept through!!! hehe

 The Princes St gardens were really starting to pop with colour! enough to actually keep Ella awake! She does love looking at trees and flowers when we are out on our walks, I think she will be a nature lover like her daddy!!

 The next day we woke up and there was a rare sighting of sun!! The weather was also semi warm! so we decided to head to Loch Lomond! Luckily By was working in the area that day so he was able to meet us for lunch.  We went to The Tullie Inn...

 which is really beautifully done inside,

and the food was amazing! pulled pork burger for me!

 and steak pie for By!

This was how Ella felt when I told her we were meeting Daddy for lunch!

 

She is a daddy's girl through and through!

 Taking advantage of the good weather, and feeling pretty full after lunch we decided the best way to see the Loch would be a Loch cruise! This was super fun!!

 The views were amazing!

 Love how green and lush the trees are, and that giant hotel in the middle of them all is a pretty impressive building!

We also passed this cute little island in the middle!

 and Ella got caught up on lots of Granny loving!

It was the perfect way to spend a semi sunny day!

This past weekend By's mom and her husband came to visit.  They're living in Tanzania at the moment so were just back in the UK for a few weeks.  Scotland really pulled out all the stops and we had one of the hottest days we've had so far (despite being overcast..I think it got up to 23 degrees!) so again there was no question about where we should head...and we returned to Loch Lomond!

 We drove the back road scenic route, and By took us to this little spot he'd discovered when he was at work one day! It's only about a 20 minute walk up to this hilltop, and you get rewarded with that amazing view!

 Milk on the go for Ella!

She'd decided she was bored of the sling and wanted to see the view! so she hopped a ride on Daddy's shoulders on the way down!

Cuteness overload - look how teeny tiny she is up there!

 

I think their smiles say it all! She loves her daddy and she loves the nice weather!

We headed back to The Tullie Inn in Balloch for a spot of lunch, and then onto Luss, which is somewhere we had never been before.  

 I think it's one of the only areas of Loch Lomond that has a 'beach'.  It is just small and not sandy, more stony but it was packed and seems a really popular place to go!!

There's nothing like an ice cream to cool you down on a hot muggy day, Kathy tried the tablet flavour as it's a must when visiting Scotland!

 The little village of Luss itself is very cute! with all these little well kept cottages, and their amazing gardens!

 Yes, Loch Lomond - you're going to make it hard to leave! We only have about 7 weeks left here...time is just flying by!

Gran and Gramps Come to Visit!

So last month Byron's Gran and Gramps came to visit us from South Africa for a whole week! We hadn't seen them since 2010 as we'd missed a visit from them last year when we were over in Vancouver! So it was lovely to get to spend so much time with them, and of course for Ella to meet them!

 On the bank holiday Monday we went to check out a 'Food Fair' at New Lanark.  It was pretty disappointing to be honest, but we did get some coconut and peanut butter tablet so that nearly made the trip worth it!

We also did a walk up to the Falls of Clyde. 

It was very scenic and despite it not being the warmest of days, it didn't rain, so that's always a win when you live in Scotland!

Ella, as usual, spent most of the walk asleep as she slept in the sling!

I used my newly acquired 'moves' app to tell me that we had walked 10,500 steps on our walk up to the falls so that felt pretty good!

The next day we checked out Finlaystone Estate which is in Inverclyde.

We managed a whole rain free day again, despite those clouds lurking! Scotland actually delivered pretty well on the weather front, we only had one wash out day all week! and we just stayed in and drank hot drinks, ate cookies and played Settlers and called that our rest day!

There were lots of beautiful flowers to be seen...

and all kinds of lovely colours in the gardens.

This tree was really spectacular, I've never seen one that has its branches hanging down so low to the ground...it almost looked like a dress! and then it was hiding all those beautiful bluebells underneath!

We walked through the woods to discover even more bluebells which we were pretty pleased about!

How picture perfect can you get!

Oh how I love bluebells...something had to take over my need for cherry blossoms (which Scotland didn't deliver on by the way!)

We were a little disappointed that the three sisters tearoom at Finlaystone is only open on weekends! so we took a drive to Quarriers village to check out the original 'Three Sisters Bake' Cafe, as I'd heard lots about it!

It was really cute inside, and despite not being impressed by their cakes the savoury food we had was great...



 I had pulled pork on homemade focaccia - and it was amazing!!

On our last action packed day before both of our families descended on us for Ella's blessing, we headed to Edinburgh (because it's our fave!) We stopped in at Queensferry on the way through.

Ella wasn't overly impressed and slept through the whole of our time there!

It is rather quaint, I loved the little cobbled streets and all the coloured houses...especially the purple doors! I also found the best gift shop I have found since being in Scotland - I'd go back just for that!

By had been wanting to try out this BBQ place, Clerk's Bar, he'd driven past once, and so we introduced Gran and Gramps to the delights of pulled pork as they'd never had it before! Of course we had to accompany it with sweet potato fries! yum!

I had a monster dog, topped with pulled pork of course...because I'm still trying to make up for all the hot dogs I missed out on whilst pregnant!

By went with this monster burger, and it was a pretty tasty meal all round!

We browsed around, and did the touristy things like checking out the castle! Can you tell how interested Ella was?! Hehe.

We ended our day at my fave bakery in Scotland - Lovecrumbs. By went with a peanut butter and jelly cake!

and I couldn't resist the cream cheese brownie which was delish! Gran and Gramps had some fig scones but since they're not used to the 'food can only be eaten once photographed' rule, their baked goods won't feature!

and Ella... well she just feasted on her fist! and was perfectly happy chilling on their comfy sofas! I think her first visit to Edinburgh was a hit!